1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a female terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, a plurality of pieces of electric apparatus are mounted on a car such as an electric car or a hybrid car. A plurality of large current electric wires are connected to such electric apparatus through connectors. Such a connector has a configuration in which rod-like male terminals and female terminals into which the male terminals are inserted are received in housing portions respectively. As such a female terminal, there has been known a female terminal including a cylindrical terminal body to which a male terminal is inserted, and a cylindrical elastic contact member that is received in the terminal body so as to apply a contact pressure to the male terminal (see JP-A-2000-91013).
The elastic contact member is formed so that a plurality of contact portions partitioned by slits extending in the insertion direction of the male terminal can be curved inward (toward the male terminal). Axial movement of the elastic contact member is restricted by a stopper formed in the terminal body. An insertion opening of the terminal body is capped with an annular cap so that the elastic contact member inserted into the terminal body can be retained between the inner circumferential surface of the cap and the stopper.
Since the elastic contact member configured thus is retained between the cap and the stopper, the contact portions are elastically deformed radially to generate a contact pressure with respect to a male terminal when the male terminal is inserted. However, the contact portions cannot be deformed to extend in an axial direction of the elastic contact member. Therefore, for example, there arises a problem that an insertion load increases when a large-diameter male terminal for a large current is inserted into the elastic contact member.